For Iowans, Mitt Romney is oddly both a front-runner and an underdog in the Republican race for the presidency as he battles GOP perceptions that he might not be their best choice.

Romney leads in the polls here and nationally, but with a scaled-back campaign effort in Iowa, he’s an underdog for the caucuses here in early February.

Today in pastoral New Hampshire, Romney, 64, made official his presidential intentions, saying he would restore states’ authority over dozens of government programs, repeal “ObamaCare” and make America No. 1 in job creation.

“I’m Mitt Romney and I believe in America and I’m running for president,” said Romney, a wealthy former business executive and former governor of Massachusetts.

It’s Romney’s second shot at the White House, and some Iowans consider this year to be his turn for the Republican nomination – not unlike Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and John McCain, who each lost once, then advanced in the relatively orderly and hierarchical GOP procession to the top.

Iowa supporters called Romney the one candidate in the 2012 Republican field who understands the economy and knows how to turn America back to prosperity.

“Today’s economic news – falling markets brought about by fears of a double-dip recession – is an appropriate backdrop for Mitt Romney’s announcement for president,” said David Kochel, Romney’s Iowa adviser.

Speaking in a windy, outdoor setting at a fellow Republican’s Bittersweet Farm, Romney said Obama raised taxes, piled up regulations, gave more power to union bosses and rammed through “a disastrous national health care plan.”

“This president’s first answer to every problem is to take power from you and from your local government and from your state so that his so called experts in Washington can make decisions for you,” he said. “And in each of those decisions we lose more of our freedom.”

Romney’s announcement speech didn’t touch on social issues — gay marriage, guns, abortion — but tossed out tea party catch phrases such as “we the people” and said: “Who is it that rules this great nation? You do!”

Romney’s strategy is clearly more focused on New Hampshire, home of the second voting contest in the nominating calendar. He has campaigned there eight times since last summer, compared to two trips in that time to Iowa, which holds the nation’s leadoff caucuses.

Some top Iowa Republicans have been insisting Romney campaign at least relatively hard here, and during a Des Moines stop last week, Romney promised they’d see him “plenty.”

Still, there are doubts about Romney’s ability to take out Democratic President Barack Obama – several members of his 2008 Iowa leadership team are either still assessing the field or have already migrated to other candidates.

Some Iowan Republicans said they’re worried Romney’s downfall will be his Massachusetts health care policy, which requires most people to purchase health insurance or get it from the government. They think the issue is central in this year’s race because it embodies the conservative ideology of individual liberty over government control.

“There has never been a weaker front-runner in the modern era of GOP presidential politics, at least since 1964,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “At the same time, all the other actual candidates have as many or more problems than he does.”

Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky in a written statement today bashed Romney for slashing jobs as a businessman and leading Massachusetts to a 47th out of 50 ranking in job creation as governor.

“Running for president seems to be about the only thing Mitt Romney is able to commit to,” Dvorsky said. “He has waffled his way through his entire political career – Romney ‘hedged’ on supporting the Ryan budget, he flipped on the Recovery Act, he has flopped on social issues like gay marriage and a woman’s right to choose and he won’t commit to competing in the Ames straw poll despite being the highest polling and best funded candidate in the GOP race.”

John Kline, 69, a retired cab driver from Des Moines, said he is solidly behind Romney because “he has proven he can take care of business.”

Even though Romney is carrying of banner of fiscal conservatism in a field of tea party candidates and religious fundamentalists, some Iowa fiscal conservatives are still looking elsewhere – to Chris Christie of New Jersey, Rick Perry of Texas and to others.

It’s not the first time Romney has been an underdog in Iowa.

Iowa Republican likely voters knew so little about Romney in September 2006 that 68 percent said they were not sure about their feelings toward him, a Des Moines Register Iowa Poll showed. Only 6 percent regarded him very favorably.

Fast forward eight months: After an error-free campaign with 11 visits to Iowa, television advertisements splashed across the state and solid performances in two national debates, he had skyrocketed from a second-tier candidate into the lead, overtaking John McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, and Rudy Giuliani, a former mayor of New York.

By May 2007, only 15 percent of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers were unsure what they thought about him, an Iowa Poll showed. The poll found Romney was regarded favorably by 74 percent and unfavorably by 13 percent.

But in late fall, a former Baptist minister named Mike Huckabee, the ex-governor of Arkansas, had caught fire with the religious conservatives who dominated Iowa’s caucus crowd in 2008.

Despite a record turnout, Romney lost to Huckabee by 11,000 votes.

Matt Schultz, a Council Bluffs Republican and Iowa’s secretary of state, backed Romney last time but is staying neutral for now, partly because he’s supervising the ballots for year’s straw poll on Aug. 13.

“Personally, I think Mitt Romney’s a good man and I have a lot of respect for him and his family but I think at this point, I don’t know,” Schultz said. “I think they all have issues that they’re going to have to explain to the voters.”